Richard

Byrne

Nero/

Pseudo

Book & Lyrics:

Richard Byrne

Music:

Jon Langford &

Jim Elkington

​

"Mighty Augustus / He gave us a circus /

To choke down the morsel / Of bread our sweat bought us."

-- from the song "Nero's Crown."

Nero's dead, right? Or perhaps his biggest fans won't let Rome's cruel but entertaining emperor exit the stage just yet. Nero/Pseudo is a play where a strangely improbable but true tale of imperial impersonation from ancient Rome and Greece (ripped from the pages of Tacitus, Suetonius, and other chroniclers) collides with the glitter and bombast of glam rock.

Nero/Pseudo was developed in staged readings by WSC/Avant Bard at Artisphere (Rosslyn, VA) in May 2012 (Director: Colin Hovde) and in New York City as part of the Emerging Artists Theatre's New Works Festival at TaDa! Theatre in March 2013 (Director: Melisa Annis.)